Senator Gardner, the confirmation hearing for Raymond Vela as the head of the National Park Service is happening soon.

As your constituent and a Coloradan I am naturally concerned for the welfare of our state and our nation’s beautiful natural spaces and I trust that you are too.

I know you will do what is best for the wild lands of our country and not only the economy, I understand there must be balance. I know that you will do your due diligence on the committee in ensuring that the pick for the National Park Service is someone of integrity, someone who understands the value of these places to our economy and culture.

Further, I ask that you be mindful of the other duties of the head of the National Park Service. Our nation is founded on free speech and the rights of Americans to gather in public places, not only the parks but the National Mall and areas across Washington, D.C., and especially the White House.

When interviewing Mr. Vela I trust that you will question him to ensure that he has every intention of upholding the rights of the citizens of our great nation and will defend our free speech from enemies both foreign and domestic.

Kristopher Giltz, Boulder

Trump’s influence grows

Despite two years of negative bombardment by the New York Times, The Washington Post and most other mainstream media, including your paper, in all states that Donald Trump campaigned in, the Republican’s numbers had improved by election day. Remarkably, as a result, for the first time since 1962, the party in the White House gained Senate seats.

Democrats may have won the House, but Trump won the election and increased his influence in his party.

The undeniable truth is that Trump’s unique style, appealing to some but not to others, continues to work for half of the electorate. White men turned out big for him. Red states became redder. He convincingly demonstrated that the most stunning upset victory in U.S. history over Hillary Clinton was no fluke.

Trump has kept his minority coalition together and now needs only a slight improvement to be assured of re-election. Swapping Vice President Mike Pence for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley would likely accomplish that.

Steve Holloway, Lakewood

Coloradans need to come together on state’s problems

There are surely critical issues the Eastern Plains, the Front Range and the Western Slope can come into agreement over. Poor health care, drug use and addiction, income and wealth disparity, homelessness, and suicide affect all Coloradans. There are no easy answers of how to address these, but a statewide dialogue needs to begin.

Robert Porath, Boulder

DeVos security detail too costly

I heard that Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education and a billionaire, has an around-the-clock security detail costing middle class taxpayers $20 million. Why does the head of the department of education need a round-the-clock security detail?

This cabinet and this administration and the GOP are truly the swamp. What a waste of taxpayer money!

I urge Senators Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet to do better. The GOP has the majority and hasn’t done anything about all this taxpayer waste on cabinet members. How much money has this administration’s cabinet spent in taxpayer money? We need an accounting and our elected officials to be accountable.

Renee Ostrowski, Centennial

Make Election Day a holiday

Encourage voting, make Election Day a state holiday. It could conflate with Columbus Day or another fall holiday. Businesses and government offices would be closed. Voters would be encouraged to vote, spend time with family or volunteer with community improvement projects.

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